Thursday, US lawmakers blasted TikTok's chief executive over potential Chinese control over the site and said the app's short videos were detrimental to children's mental health, underscoring bipartisan worries about the app's effect over Americans.
The testimony of CEO Shou Zi Chew before Congress did little to assuage American concerns about TikTok's parent firm ByteDance, which is located in China, and provided additional impetus to legislators' efforts to prohibit the site nationally.
Throughout the course of five hours of testimony, Chew denied the app shared data or had ties to the Chinese Communist Party and said the platform was taking every precaution to safeguard the safety of its 150 million US users.
Chew stated that TikTok has been for more than two years "Building what amounts to a firewall to prevent unauthorized foreign access to protected US user data. American data are held on American territory by an American firm and supervised by American individuals "Chew stated.
Nevertheless, not a single legislator voiced support for TikTok or compassion for Chew's guarantees, since they viewed his responses on China as evasive and voiced worries about the app's influence over American youngsters.
Others have accused TikTok of spreading content that fosters eating disorders, illegal drug transactions, and sexual exploitation among youngsters.
"TikTok could have been engineered to minimize the harm to children, but a decision was taken to aggressively addict children in the interest of profits," said Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor during a House Energy and Commerce committee hearing.
Chew answered to many probing questions by asserting that the issues were "complicated" and not exclusive to TikTok.
The company reports that it has spent more than $1.5 billion (S$2 billion) on data security initiatives under the term "Project Texas," which presently employs almost 1,500 full-time workers and has a contract with Oracle Corp to store TikTok's US user data.
Yet, critics were not appeased because the firm did not reveal any additional measures to protect privacy.
Chew, who opened his testimony by referencing his Singaporean heritage, stated, "We do not promote or remove anything at the Chinese government's request."
He said, "It is our promise to this committee and to all of our users that (TikTok) will remain free of any government meddling." He stated that the program thoroughly censors potentially harmful information for youngsters.
It is unclear how legislators will act following the hearing or how swiftly they may move to approve legislation to bolster the legal authority of the Biden administration to prohibit TikTok.
Not concerned with ownership
Twenty US senators, including ten Democrats and ten Republicans, have sponsored bipartisan legislation offering President Joe Biden's administration an avenue to ban TikTok, and the app's fate has added a new dimension to the tensions between Washington and Beijing.
This week, TikTok said that the Biden administration insisted that its Chinese owners sell their shares or face a potential ban.
When asked about a possible divestment, Chew stated that the problem was "not about ownership" and that US concerns could be handled by transferring data to its American data storage facilities.
China's Ministry of Commerce stated that forcing the sale of TikTok would "seriously harm the trust of investors from across the globe, including China, to invest in the United States" and that Beijing would reject any sale. Several legislators used China's statements to refute TikTok's claim that it is independent from the Chinese government.
Congressman Neal Dunn questioned Chew during Thursday's House hearing if ByteDance had spied on Americans at Beijing's behest. Chew responded "No"
The Republican Dunn then inquired about media claims that a China-based ByteDance team intended to utilize TikTok to track the location of individual US people, and he reiterated his inquiry over whether ByteDance was spying.
Chew stated, "I do not believe that espionage is the appropriate term to use in this situation." He continued to frame the claims as a "internal probe," but Dunn cut him off, calling the widespread usage of TikTok "a disease."
On Thursday, shares of US social media firms that compete with TikTok for advertising increased, with Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc and Snap Inc gaining 2.2% and 3.1%, respectively.
"SNAP and META believe the CEO performed poorly and that TikTok may be prohibited "said Great Hill Capital's chairman and managing member, Thomas Hayes. "I believe reports of TikTok's collapse are likely grossly overstated."
'Save our children'
Tony Cardenas, a Democrat, referred to Chew as a "word dancer" and accused him of evading difficult questions over evidence that the app has affected children's mental health.
Chew stated that the organization was investing in content moderation and artificial intelligence to restrict such content.
Democrat Diana DeGette stated that TikTok's efforts to restrict the dissemination of false material on its site were ineffective.
"You just provided me with generalized assertions that you are investing, caring, and working. It is insufficient for me. It is not enough for America's parents "DeGette remarked.
Congressman Gus Bilirakis presented the committee with a series of short TikTok films that appeared to promote self-harm and suicide, or explicitly encourage viewers to commit themselves.
"Your technology practically causes death," stated Bilirakis. "We must protect our children from large technology businesses like yours, who continue to use and manipulate them for profit."
Chew informed Bilirakis that TikTok takes suicide and self-harm "very seriously."
Comments